Your Spotify Gift Card Probably Won't Work and We Can Help

If you are giving or think you are getting a Spotify gift card this holiday season, you need to read this before you or someone you love has an epic meltdown trying to activate it.

Clear your computer’s cache.

For months, I had a Spotify gift card sitting idle in my desk drawer because no matter what I tried, Spotify was not letting me activate the card.

The card was brand new. I know that because I had just purchased it as a gift for someone in my house. I had the receipt from the local market that said it was an activated $30 card. And yet, any time I punched in the redemption code and zip code like it asked, it produced an error message.

SOMETHING WENT WRONG. PLEASE TRY AGAIN.

After sitting in the drawer for a few weeks, I had the patience to try it again, chalking it up to user error. Maybe it was me. Maybe my "0" should have been an "O." Maybe I inverted numbers. After trying again and again, punching in the very exact redemption code, I still got the red box error. I put the card in the drawer and it stayed there for six months before I had the time it would take to try again.

Googling for answers to the problem will pull up pages and pages of similar complaints but only a handful of solutions, most of which are the above solution to go to the store where you bought the card or contact customer service.

What happens if you get a gift card as a gift? You probably don't have the receipt and if you do, there is a chance you don’t live near the store because Uncle George mailed you the gift card from South Dakota as a GIFT. Don’t panic. Going to the store is not the solution (in this case, at least).

The more you search the interwebs, the more you’ll notice that the complaints are endless and the solutions are nowhere. Here is the answer to getting your Spotify gift card to work:

Clear your computer’s cache.

It is that simple. After endless hours of searching, some dark corner of Reddit had one lonely comment where a user said you need to clear the cache.

Guess what, it worked. I was elated and furious all at the same time because the $30 was probably not worth the hours of problem-solving. Bringing us full circle, if this helps even one person this holiday season, it was worth my effort. Do not throw out your perfectly good gift cards and do not assume some poor cashier didn't properly activate the card.

Clear your cache, redeem your card, and listen to whatever it is that makes you happy.